Computer Program Detail Page

Free Rotation Model

written by
Wolfgang Christian

The Free Rotation model shows the torque-free motion of a rectangular block. The model displays a space frame view showing a constant angular momentum arrow and a body group containing a block and body-axis arrows. This model is designed for the study of torque-free precession. The tips of the body frame axis arrows trace trajectories to illustrate stable and unstable rotation of the block about a principal axes. A second window displays the body frame view with space frame xyz-axes orbiting the block.

The Free Rotation model is a supplemental simulation for the article "It Has to Go Down a Little, in Order to Go Around" by Svilen Kostov and Daniel Hammer in The Physics Teacher 49(4), 216-219 (2011) and has been approved by the authors and The Physics Teacher editor. The model was developed using the Easy Java Simulations (EJS) modeling tool. It is distributed as a ready-to-run (compiled) Java archive. Double clicking the ejs_csm_ch17_FreeRotation.jar file will run the program if Java is installed.

Standards (2)

AAAS Benchmark Alignments (2008 Version)

4. The Physical Setting

4E. Energy Transformations

6-8: 4E/M4. Energy appears in different forms and can be transformed within a system. Motion energy is associated with the speed of an object. Thermal energy is associated with the temperature of an object. Gravitational energy is associated with the height of an object above a reference point. Elastic energy is associated with the stretching or compressing of an elastic object. Chemical energy is associated with the composition of a substance. Electrical energy is associated with an electric current in a circuit. Light energy is associated with the frequency of electromagnetic waves.

AAAS Benchmark Alignments (1993 Version)

4. THE PHYSICAL SETTING

E. Energy Transformations

4E (9-12) #2. Heat energy in a material consists of the disordered motions of its atoms or molecules. In any interactions of atoms or molecules, the statistical odds are that they will end up with less order than they began?that is, with the heat energy spread out more evenly. With huge numbers of atoms and molecules, the greater disorder is almost certain.

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